Current Affairs

India’s e-waste problem

The Union environment ministry in March 2016 had notified the E-Waste Management Rules 2016 replacing the 2011 version. With this, the Indian government has taken a key step to combat this most lethal form of pollution.The earlier rules issued five years ago were quite inadequate.

Government plans 27,000km economic corridors

The government is planning to make 44 highway stretches totalling 27,000 km to be developed as "economic corridors" for seamless movement of cargo vehicles, cut delays, deepen economic activities and create jobs.

Getting railways on Track

The reasons stated for the merger of railway budget with general budget are

Cybercrime and need of robust cyber security policy

Cyber security and defence against cyber warfare assume greater significance due to rapidly increasing risks, vulnerabilities, threats, cybercrimes and fraud. The incidence of cybercrimes in the country went up significantly in 2015 where number of cases booked under the cybercrime category rose by 20.5%.

Crop Burning: Punjab and Haryana's killer fields

Burning of agricultural biomass residue, or Crop Residue Burning (CRB) has been identified as a major health hazard.In addition to causing exposure to extremely high levels of Particulate Matter concentration to people in the immediate vicinity.

Air pollution levels up by 8%: U.N. report

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) meeting at Nairobi noted that air pollution has increased by 8 per cent and progress and policies on air quality fall short of what is needed to save millions of lives each year.

RCEP negotiations India likely to take a more aggressive stand

An internal commerce ministry estimate that signing the 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement will result in a revenue loss of as much as 1.6% of gross domestic product has alarmed officials.

BRICS bank okays first loan of $811 mn

The New Development Bank (NDB), formed by the BRICS group of emerging nations, has approved its first loans - $811 million for renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

The Net Neutrality Debate in India

Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016. These regulations prohibit Telecom Service Providers from charging different tariffs from consumers for accessing different services online.

Overview of Ground Water in India

The Standing Committee on Water Resources examined the subject "Review of ground water scenario, need for a comprehensive policy and measures to address problems in the country with particular reference to (i) dark blocks, and